But the most significant change in modern science is not just about the amount of noise, but how we experience it. Noise is no longer understood solely as a problem that affects hearing, it is also recognised as a systemic environmental pollutant. Transport noise is now one of the leading environmental cause of illness in Europe, second only to air pollution.
Cities Aren’t Loud: Cars Are Loud
Urban noise is a common problem, and the vast majority of it is created by motor vehicles. Noise is far too often dismissed as a minor nuisance, rather than the legitimate health issue that it is.
The book “Curbing Traffic” has a chapter about the health impacts of noise pollution. I explore the research in the book, and visit Delft, the city that is highlighted in the book as being a shining example of what can happen when noise pollution is taken seriously.
This video explores the problem that farting cars, farting motorcycles, and farting mopeds create in our cities.
I have mild tinnitus so i forgot what quiet is
What I find most annoying are people who just can’t shut up on top of everything else.
I moved to a rural area in early 2025.
Its so quiet. Sometimes Douche Baggins is running his or her turbobdiesel F4000 dually down the road too fast, but usually its just wind, roosters, frogs, and bugs.
Before this I lived in a suburb. Roaring cars constantly. There was a period of two months where semi trucks were driving down the street in front of the house one right after the other, constantly, day and night. A stroad down the street was noisy all the time.
Sounds like more of a Sackville-Baggins activity.
I’m very curious to see this study replicated in Latin America.
My experience here is dreadful. I have stress, insomnia, and irritability from the constant noise from traffic (there’s a near constant blast of cars with megaphones repeating an amplified voice of some merchant selling something like gas or brooms or juice or buying scrap metal or whatever).
On the other hand, most of the locals literally don’t notice the noise. They can sleep through it all, even fire alarms.
The evolutionary argument is interesting, but I really want to see this study repeated and confirmed in cultures that are largely ambivalent about noise pollution
I hear you, absolutely dreadful. I also wonder how can people ignore those “sounds” so effortlessly.
It’s just what you’re used to, in a way.
I grew up in a noisy third world country and could’ve slept through a drummer 10 ft away. I then moved to a first world country and have now gotten used to the relative silence that I experience here, despite living in a downtown area of a major city. Going back home to visit my parents is a nightmare because I the up waking up a million times every night because of all the sounds around.
Visiting cousins/friends who live in the suburbs of my new country gives me the creeps because of how much more quieter it is. So I end up getting nightmares of being in some post apocalyptic world when I stay over at their places. So, I can’t sleep through complete silence either. 🤷♂️
I’m not convinced. It must depend on the person. I’ve lived in such a country for way over a year and I could never get used to it.
When you’re a a baby that falls asleep on a rickety ass bus bouncing around and blasting Latin music with loud brass instruments, it’s the comfort that rocks you to sleep.
If you experience that all through adolescence, it’s normalized. When you’re adult that’s lived through it your whole life, it’s normal.
That’s completely different than someone getting used to it
But I still think it’s unhealthy for everyone, as the article points out
I’ve said this ever since I found out rabbits die of stress.
You’re only allowed to use a jackhammer a certain amount of time from what it does to your body.
This environment is too loud and too much for us.
The biggest damage isn’t from cars, It’s in schools. The amount of loud ass kids at once is unbearable. And your children are exposed for years to this shit
And your children are exposed for years to this shit
Homie, our children are this shit, they’re the noise. I’m not sure they mind since they probably don’t really hear anyone else over their own shrieking. Kids treat every day like a lung day workout, just really stress testing that diaphragm and the vocal chords.
As I read this, I hear the truck selling gas blasting it’s “gas for sale” tune. And the neighbor’s blasting bad music. And dogs barking.
It’s 07:00 AM.
I love my iems partly because of the natural noise cancelation.
Leaf blowers are even worse. I thought about it recently, and literally every time I’ve lost my temper in the last 25 years, it’s been because someone was making noise.
ironically, cars are the only thing that allow you to live a quiet life out in the country
Until they build a datacenter nextdoor, that is
Luckily you can still buy tannerite at Tractor Supply for that eventuality.
Nah, just live in a reasonable country with public transportation that runs through the country.
Hell, even the US has trains that mostly go wayyy out in the middle of nowhere
nah, that’s just because people want the convenience
you can absolutely do this without owning a personal motor vehicle, and getting around by public transport or bicycle or other means and having building materials and whatnot delivered by truck
Dude, drinking water isn’t even a right according to our supreme court.
endless barking dogs is my main noise gripe, fark…
Crying children in public spaces where you cant just get away from them, mine
I have someone else’s baby living in my house and it’s ruined my life and marriage. Fuck kids.
Have any of you complaining about noise checked for an autism diagnosis?
It’s us that are wrong, not the dudes with the extra noisy exhaust doing a drag race at the red light at 2 am!
Correlation vs causation maybe?
I haven’t read them all, but the article links to a few of them (some are paywalled, unfortunately. Anna’s archive might have them, I haven’t checked):
1 - Impact of noise and air pollution on the cardiovascular system through the brain–heart axis
2 - The combined effect of air and transportation noise pollution on atherosclerotic inflammation and risk of cardiovascular disease events
3 - A review of the auditory-gut-brain axis
4 - Recent Advancements in Understanding the Gut Microbiome and the Inner Ear Axis
5 - Gut Resistome and Hearing Loss in Young Adults: A Preliminary Study on the Interplay Between Microbial Resistance and Auditory Health
6 - Oxidative stress and inflammation contribute to traffic noise-induced vascular and cerebral dysfunction via uncoupling of nitric oxide synthases
7 - Homo sapiens, industrialisation and the environmental mismatch hypothesisYou can also have a look at this meta analysis of another 22 articles that met their criteria and further dive into each of them:
Tagging @Broken_Orange_Juice@lemmy.world as they also showed interest
My gosh, I’ll give them a read, thank you
Yeah I wanna see the paper to see if they controlled for this
